Borderlands: The New World
by Jordan2k4
Summary: In a far and uncharted galaxy is a planet that holds secrets the likes no man has ever witnessed. A new band of heros are sent on a mission to explore the new world for scientific and documentary purposes when things go horribly wrong. Now, instead of a simple discovery mission, the gang must survive the ever evolving planet and uncover the mystery of the Vault.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter

1

The station was cold, dry, and dark. Low-lit lamps beamed down upon the terminals as a frenzy of fingers worked tirelessly inputting lines of data. The room was open enough to contain a large, panoramic view screen at its head, and sat four rows of massive holographic computers; each with a two person team manning its controls. From a speaker in the back of the room came a monotone voice, "T4-2, add more alloy. T6-1, incorporate seventy two percent more humidity. T7-2, reduce the color green by forty percent and replace with purple." The commands rolled out from the small box overhead and the men and women typed away.

From a wide one-way window to the rear of the computer room, was a smaller room with a handful of exuberantly wealthy occupants. "How much longer till this project is complete?" a slender man in a shiny trench coat asked.

"Our estimated time of completion is two weeks." answered a short hairy man.

"Will it be fully operational?"

"Yes."

"Will it be ready for live testing?"

The short man paused a moment before he answered, "That depends." he replied sipping his coffee.

"On what?"

"That depends," the man said, "what are you looking for, and what are you willing to sacrifice?"

The taller man sighed, his brow frowned and his face gave the impression that he was deep in thought; turmoil over the possibilities. Finally he spoke, "We are making history here. I'm willing to sacrifice anything."

The hairier man chuckled as he took another sip, "Good." Then the man turned and walked to the table at the back of the room and poured himself another cup 'o joe. "I'll notify you when we are up and ready for those live tests Mr. Garfield."

"I appreciate that Tom, I look forward to working with you more." the slender man said, and with that he exited the room.

"Hey Jim, hold up a sec will ya." called a young red headed man from just outside a café. The man hailed stopped in his tracks and shoved his hands in his pockets, then leaned against the wall. Jim was a tall, very well built man. His figure was that of a professional football player's. He had long blond hair that he braided around the crown of his head and let hang down his back. His jaw was squared with a "butt" chin and full of scruff. Jim was a warrior by trait, a master on the battlefield.

After a moment of waiting, an equally as impressive man jogged up next to Jim, "Sorry 'bout that," the man said with a grin, "the wife wants to get her 'freak on' if you catch my drift."

Jim laughed, "Yeah, yeah I get you." The two rounded the hall and passed into a room full of busy people. "What's the occasion?" he inquired.

"Nothing," the man replied, "my wife's just a nasty like that!"

Jim shook his head and smirked widely, "Mike what would I do without you?" he said.

Mike gazed off into the distance finding a retort, and then looked at Jim, "I don't know, probably die a shrewd, decrepit virgin."

"What, I've had my fair share of women." Jim defended.

"Oh, wait, you mean all those meat bags weren't men?" Mike gasped. "Bro I'm sorry, those were women weren't they, and this whole time I thought they were dudes." The two laughed, "That's why I kept my distance."

Jim shoved Mike, "Screw you asshole."

"So, let's get off my wife and onto more pressing matters..." Mike began, but before he could run any further with his sentence the two were abruptly cut off upon entering the debriefing room.

"It's good of you to finally show up gentlemen," said a slender woman with long, silky blonde hair, "please have a seat, continue, I wouldn't want to interrupt you two." she said sarcastically.

"No Ma'am, we were actually discussing work." said Mike seating himself at an empty desk with Jim.

The woman glared, and then pointed to a holograph of a planet. "Let us continue," she huffed, "Flare Corporation has believed to have found a new planet in the Atlantis Cluster." her metal pointer touching a shining orb, which expanded to show a large planet. "As you know with new worlds, we have absolutely no intel for you, except that it is habitable. As with many missions in the past, this one remains the same. You are to provide security for a team of geologists as they take samples of the planet's surface. Where they explore, you follow. Flare Corp. has shown a great deal of interest in this world so expect to remain planet side for some time." Everyone in the room moaned. "Hey, I don't want to hear it," the woman shot, "it has always been policy that the company provides the best care to their employees and their families."

"Do we have a timeframe of when we are to ship out?" Mike asked.

"This is immediate Michael. We are shipping Alpha team tomorrow. Bravo and Charlie will ship in three days, and Delta will arrive in two weeks." the woman replied.

"Shit… You gotta be kidding me Janice!" Mike complained.

"Calm yourself Mr. Kidd." Janice said with a raised voice. "We will be sending in replacements in a months' time. This will be quick, a short and easy mission." Janice gazed around the room at all the staff. "If you have no questions you are dismissed. Alpha team will be debriefed in two hours, and Bravo and Charlie teams will have a debriefing tomorrow morning at seven o'clock. Please bring your gear as you will be departing straight from your meetings."

The workers mumbled as they mulled over the new mission and exited the office. Mike stood and began walking to the door when he noticed Jim hanging back, "You coming buddy?" he inquired.

"Go ahead without me man, I got a few questions I wanna go over. Tell Tricia sup for me." Jim replied. Mike nodded and left the room. Jim waited until the last person exited before he approached Janice.

The petite woman looked up, "Yes Jim?" she asked.

"Ms. Valentine I was hoping you'd have an answer for my request, the one I put in three weeks ago…" Jim paused for an answer.

"Yes I do." Janice replied pulling it up on her tablet. "The Corporation has approved it and as soon as you're mission here is over you will be transferred to Pandora's field office." This news brought great satisfaction to Jim, who showed it with a big smile. "I'm happy to hear you got what you wanted Jim, you're a hard worker and proficient at what you do." said Janice.

"Thank you Ma'am." replied Jim. He nodded goodbye and walked out of the room and back to his quarters.

The Flare Corp's station _Super Nova_ was equivalent to the size of Pluto and housed approximately two million occupants; employees and their families. Jim had his own flat that was located in the Crystal District. He hopped in the teleportation mat and was transported to the station in his district. He walked to his building and took the elevator to his place. Upon opening the door, his lights automatically turned on then dimmed. His myPOD Infinity 5 clicked on and quietly played Jim's favorite band, The Incinerators; an electronic rock group.

Jim tossed his clothes on the floor as he walked from the doorway to the shower. "Shower on," he ordered, "heat at eighty two, no eighty one percent." The shower jetted on and steam rose around the room. Jim tossed his briefs on the floor and hopped into the roomy, rain-style shower. After he had cleaned off and dried his long hair, Jim grabbed two pills and put them in the oven. He closed the door and pressed a button. Instantly meals blossomed and were ready. He pulled out two cheese burgers, a plate of fries, and a pie.

Jim moved into the living room and turned on the TV. His favorite news channel popped on and he dropped into his recliner. The news was streaming some interesting footage of a wrecked ship drifting in space above the planet Pandora. Jim wondered if anyone he knew was onboard. He hoped not. Images of a grizzled man in Earth's Marine Corps fatigues and a woman with strange blue tattoos flashed across the screen.

After eating his dinner Jim wondered into the bedroom where he dove onto his plush bed. He crawled into his covers and glanced over at a picture of a scrawny blonde boy with thick glasses, "I'll find you brother," he yawned, "if it's the last thing I do." Jim closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter

2

Jim stepped into the meeting room once more; a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, a packed duffle bag in his other. He glanced at the rooms occupants, _this doesn't look like my team_, he thought. "Hello…" he greeted awkwardly as he found a seat. The group just sat silently. Jim thought he recognized a few of the room's faces.

The first, right of the bat was a giant of a woman named Daisy "The Fridge" Schwartzenheimer. She easily stood over seven feet tall and was built like a refrigerator. Jim had run into her on a mission a few years back. This chick was so amped up on her own cocktail of roids, that she went ape-shit on a whole town after killing a few Pirates that were smuggling women's lingerie. Daisy had the smarts, of a gym-rat, or cavewoman, and when she juiced up… well, one should just remain out of the way.

The second face Jim recognized was a tall, lean woman with black hair and blood-red streaks. She was dressed in peculiar black steampunk fashion. She was known as the Queen of Death, for her wild obsession with the deceased; as well as emo things among others. Her name was Kira Akira-Akuma, but everyone called her Reaper.

The last person Jim remotely knew was a man dressed like a character from an old _treasure hunter_ movie. Stories of this man's exploits were the stuff of legends. It was even told that he had solo raided a Vault on some remote planet, and tamed the Vault monster. Kentucky Joe was his name, and lootin' dead stuff was his game. He also had an extravagant collection of exotic animals and aliens.

Two other characters sat across from Jim, and these folks he did not know. One was an older gentleman. He wore a long coat and a patch over an eye. Jim noticed that under the long coat was a pair of metallic arms held to his body by a metal belt. The arms lay crossed in his lap. The other, was a man from what Jim could guess. The muscular build was hidden behind a skin tight suit that flickered little hexagons as the suit caught the light. The man looked like a comic book super hero.

Just then Janice entered the room, "Jim can I see you for a second?" she asked as she passed to a door at the back of the room. Jim stood and followed the woman into a small separate room.

"What's up Janice?" asked Jim.

"I wanted to get a sense of what you thought of your team." Janice said.

Jim's mouth dropped in surprise, "You've got to be shitting me Janice!" he roared; which prompted the others to peer through the slit in the doorway.

Janice closed the door and crossed her arms, "This is who the company has put together for you. You're going to have to deal with it, sorry."

"What about Lazer, or Tazer, or Phazer, or Pat? Where's my normal team?" Jim inquired.

"Sorry but I can't get into it with you." Janice apologized, "You are going to have to make the best of the team given."

"Janice, I don't even know these people. I mean, you expect me to protect a bunch of 'coats' with a gang of people I've never worked with besides The Fridge." Jim huffed, and slammed his fist on a nearby table. "I mean, you couldn't have picked better? I have freaking The Fridge, Miss Emo-pants… probably going to kill herself before the enemy can. Some weird old man with robo arms, and superhero _McGee_ if freaking TIGHTS!" Jim spat in exasperation. Janice just sat in silence and listened to the rant. "I mean okay, I get Kentucky Joe, the man's a legend. But what does he have to do with a protective detail?"

"Are you done?" Janice interrupted. Jim looked befuddled, but nodded. "Good, this is your team, deal with it. Now, before we step back into the briefing room, I want to let you know that you're co-leading this team with another member. You two can meet as soon as he's here." finished Janice. Jim was so enraged by this second bit of news that he couldn't even formulate a complaint. The two walked back into the room to begin the mission debrief. Janice told the group to introduce themselves and give a brief description of their specialties.

Daisy put her hand up first, "Name is Daisy. People call me The Fridge. I like ponies, and frogs, and kittens, and guns, and TO CRUSH! AUH AUH YUH…" The large woman slammed her fists down on the table and snorted. Jim rubbed his head in disbelief, and sank low in his seat.

The emo girl stood next, "Mein Name ist Kira Akria-Akuma. Ich mag die Farbe schwarz, und tote Welpen und ..." she stopped when she noticed the blank stares. "Oh sorry," she apologized in a thick Japanese accent, "my name is Kira Akira-Akuma, and I like black and dead things." Kira reiterated. "_I heart dead puppies. No soul for the chosen dark angels_." she muttered under her breath. "Oh, and people call me the Reaper." Kira added. Jim could not believe the audacity of Flare Corp. He had been with Flare for a while, he had a good team… and now, he was just dumbfounded at the group unfolding before his eyes.

"Wait one sec missy," Joe started, "Kentucky Joe by the way," he leaning forward in his chair, "you speak the Earth version of German, but you seem Japanese?" he inquired. Kira nodded. Kentucky sat back and acknowledged the strange complexity that was Kira, "Well I like diggin' shit up and collecting rare creatures as a hobby." said the man in the leather jacket, with his thick Aussie accent.

The man in the long jacket shifted in his seat, "I guess I'll go next," he said in his gruff, old voice, "the name's Lumpy McSqueezy-Pants." The others giggled under their breath. "I know, silly name, damned situation. Family name's McSqueezy. My mother said she named me Lumpy because I had a lumpy head when I was born. Pants… well that was the maiden name of my deceased wife." Lumpy said. "I am a professor of robotic engineering at GIT." the one-eyed man finished.

Lastly, the mystery man stood up, "I am Orion the hero of the galaxy." stated the man. "I am an android constructed by Tommy Tuner, to protect those in need and to bring the swift, hard knuckled fist of justice to those who dare to challenge it." finished the robot, whose voice sounded like something out of a cheesy superhero cartoon. "Just remember everyone, FREEDOM and JUSTICE prevails over all."

Jim frowned and rubbed his throbbing temples, _how could this get worse_? he thought. And then, the front door hissed open and standing in the doorway was Axton. The former Commando walked into the room and stood next to Janice.

"Glad to see you made it Axton." she said. The man just smiled back. "Everyone, this is Axton Rutigliano, formerly with Dahl Company. He now commands the Crimson Commando's in Sanctuary on Pandora. He will be leading this expedition." Janice said. And with that Jim stood up and walked out. "Jim come back here." shouted Janice.

"I'll handle this." Axton said as he followed Jim out.

Jim slammed his fist into the wall. "This is skaggshit!" he roared.

Axton stood in front of Jim, "Look kid, I'm not trying to neuter you here. This is just the way Flare rolled the dice." said Axton.

"Axton what are you even doing here? How old are you?" Jim asked, frustrated beyond all belief.

"I'm here because of Maliwan. They froze me for nearly two centuries. There was a bandit raid on the facility I was at, and I was thawed prematurely. Then a few years ago I found Sanctuary… or at least what was left. I began to rebuild the place with the help of the locals. Eventually I became the leader of the city, and formed the Crimson Commando's to as a form of protection. Now Flare Corp. has asked me to lead this expedition on a new planet they've found. Honestly I'm just looking for another adventure. I've been feeling a bit out of place since I came back." Axton said.

This did not make Jim feel any better, in fact something was fishy. But what bugged him the most was the fact that he was now co-leader of a team of misfits; people with no real combat experience. Besides Axton and himself, the only fighting the others may have seen was a school yard fight or a bar brawl. "What are you _really_ here for?" Jim inquired again.

"I told you, I need another adventure." Axton replied.

"Why leave Sanctuary? You rebuild it, become their leader and protector, only to ditch them for some security job any soldier could do?" Jim said inquisitively, "Doesn't make sense."

"Look my reasons are my own." said Axton, whose demeanor had become more serious and less empathetic. "Why don't we head on in and get our brief from the beautiful Janice." he said ushering Jim into the room. The two sat at their seats and Janice began.

"Our target planet is being dubbed T3-TR4, or Tetra. It has just been discovered in the Atlantis Cluster within the last few weeks. This planet is unlike anything we've ever seen before, in that it is still evolving. The planet is growing, and changing." Janice said, as a picture of a holographic planet hovered next to her. It expanded to show all the points of data that had been found by the company's external scans, as well as the info gathered on ground by Alpha team the day prior. "We are sending down a second team of scientist to conduct research no more than seven kilometers away from the first team." A little red blip appeared on the sphere's surface. "You five will follow Axton and Jim's lead in providing personal security for the scientists. Your job is of the upmost importance, keep these researchers alive at all costs." Janice said. The rest of the meeting was logistics and munitions. The who, what, when, where, why, and how of the mission.

Jim left the briefing room and headed to the cafeteria for some chow before their departure. He ate his meal in silence until he was accompanied by The Fridge and Kira. "I'm so ready to get this mission over with, am I right?" Kira said. "Hate my life, darkness."

"Fridge can't wait to kill things." the mammoth woman said before swallowing her trey of food in one foul gulp.

Jim just snorted and remained silent. Kira slurped her soup loudly, and after every bite let out a satisfyingly loud, "Aaaah."

Jim glared at her, "Can you please eat quietly? How old are you?" he snapped.

"Despite looking like a young tween, I'm actually twenty two." she answered. "And I hate this soup like I hate your pink soul."

"Flare Merc angry." Daisy said between large bites.

"My name's Jim, and yeah I'm pissed." he replied.

"Why?" inquired Kira.

"Because I was supposed to lead this mission with _my_ team. Not this rag-tag group of desk-jockeys." Jim said.

The Fridge frowned, more so than normal, "Fridge could crush puny man if like."

Jim shook his head and picked up his trey. He dumped his food and made his way to the shuttle bay.

At the docks Jim met up with Orion, Kentucky, Lumpy, and Axton. He loaded his stuff into the red painted ship; a burnt orange fiery sun on the wing symbolized Flare Corp. Jim plopped down on a bench and kicked his boots up. They waited for Daisy and Kira to show up before the ship pulled out of the station and jumped to light speed.

While soaring through the _space-tear_, Jim removed his Fox Cutter Leather Revolver from his hip holster as well as his cleaning kit from his cargo pocket and began to clean his weapon. Axton stepped into the rear compartment and gazed around at his team. "Five minutes until we enter Atlantis, then another two till we reach Tetra." he informed. "Be ready for a flyby drop."

Those five minutes went by quickly, and gave birth to a sudden stopping motion in the pit of crew's stomach. This happened every time a ship came out of light speed travel. "Have your gear ready." ordered Jim. The crew slung their packs around their backs and locked and loaded their weapons. The seven-man team stepped into the tele-rings and waited. But just then, there was a violent shutter throughout the ship. The gang braced themselves as the ship continued to shake harder and harder. The ship's hull creaked as it strained against Tetra's surprisingly crushing outer-atmosphere.

"This is your Captain speaking, we are entering T3-TR4's stratosphere and are experiencing some slight turbulence." rang the pilot's voice over the COM. "Please remained seated and have your Gravotron turned on. We'll be making… Aaaah!" the pilot's voice cut out along with a huge chunk from the ship.

"Hold on to something!" shouted Axton. The crew grabbed the nearby railing and braced themselves as the ship spun wildly through the air.

Through the gaping hole in the front of the ship Jim could see the planet's floor growing closer by the minute. He pulled himself to the control panel near his tele-ring. As far as he could see; though his blurring, warped vision, everyone was good-to-go. Jim waited a moment, and then slammed his hand on the button, and with that the whole gang disappeared into pixelated particles.

On the ground six bodies rolled along the grassy jungle floor as they appeared out of thin air. Once the force of the fall fleeted away and the gang was able to stop tumbling, they all awkwardly stumbled to their feet. Through the trees was a loud explosion. The gang watched their ship, or what was left of it go up in flames and smoke. Everyone but Axton and Jim began blowing chunks from the extreme vertigo. "Is everyone okay?" Axton asked taking count. "Wait, where is Daisy?" he inquired.

"Up here Daisy is." the large woman shouted from high above.

The gang looked up and saw all four hundred pounds of The Fridge's thick, blubberous flesh being suspended by a thin, little branch. "How is that even possible?" inquired Kentucky Joe.

The tiny branch holding Daisy up fluttered under her girth then shifted, and suddenly snapped. The Fridge plummeted through the treetops; destroying all vegetation in her path like a bowling ball to pins. She had hit enough branches in her descent to somewhat slow her fall letting her strike the floor with a less than thunderous echo. Her shields flickered then recharged. "Daisy okay." she said standing.

Axton glanced at his watch, which displayed a small holographic map. The entire group was wired in to a GPS system which allowed Axton to sync the location of the scientist with a little yellow triangle. "There's the lab coats," he informed, "they arrived her about an hour before us." Axton said. He walked through the jungle, and the others followed in step. Something didn't feel right about this place, but Jim couldn't quite put his finger on it. At least he wasn't sore about the dump Flare Corp. took on him. He had something, a mission to keep him preoccupied.

"How far are the coats?" Kentucky inquired.

"Just under a kilometer from here." Axton answered.

The gang had pushed through the thick, and yet somehow strangely foreign vegetation for around ten minutes before the sky cracked and echoed. They party looked up and saw a small dot of fire. "What's that?" Kira wondered.

"Looks like a ship…" muttered Jim. And he was correct. As the fireball grew rapidly bigger, the gang saw a giant ship burst into hot-red pieces as it fell out of orbit. "It's going to crash here!" exclaimed Jim. The ship sored overhead creating a blast of hot wind that flattened the trees and bushes and knocked the group off their feet. Fire and debris rained down into the thicket barely missing Jim, Axton, and the others. And then behind a veil of heavy jungle trees, quite a ways away, a gigantic fireball erupted into the air and the ground shook violently with numerous intervolved tremors.

"Big boom!" shouted The Fridge. "Big boom, big boom, big boom…"

"Yeah we got it." Jim cut in. He watched the enormous pillar of smoke billow into the air, "Sucks for those folks." he whispered.

"We should go check on them." Kira insisted. "See if their souls remain in their shells."

"Let's reach our doctors first," said Axton, "once we have them we can go see if anyone survived that crash." And with that, the seven continued onward to their yellow triangle.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter

3

It didn't take long for Jim and the crew to reach the folks they were tasked with safeguarding. However, there was now a slight problem; upon reaching the ship the party had found that the scientist's had run into the same problem they themselves had, upon entry to Tetra's atmosphere. The ship was destroyed and bodies lay in pieces across the jungle floor, save for one 'coat', who had manage to survive. She lay propped against the ship's twisted wing; a large piece of shrapnel protruded through her stomach. She breathed weakly and moaned in pain as Jim and Axton approached.

"Set up a perimeter." Jim ordered the team. The others looked at him befuddled. He sighed in frustration, "Set up around the crash site and watch for anything unusual, you know, a perimeter." he said strictly. The gang caught on and dispersed around the wreckage. Jim returned his attention to Axton and the woman, "How is she?" he asked.

"She's hurt pretty bad. If she doesn't get medical attention soon she'll be deader than a Kercher out of slag." Axton replied.

"Okay so I'll run back to our ship and grab the medical supplies." said Jim.

"You don't remember our front half of the ship being blown off do you?" Axton said as he removed his shirt and applied it with pressure to the woman's abdomen. Jim frowned; Axton was right. "You need to go check out that ship that just crashed. You saw the size of it, I'm sure there are some supplies still intact aboard the medical bay or the Captain's deck." Axton added.

"Roger, I'll take emo chick and Lumpy-stiltskins with me. The others can stay here and salvage what can be, as well as provide over watch." Jim said. His partner nodded in compliance and Jim stepped away. "Kira, Lumpy, come with me." Jim called to the two. "The rest of you see if you can grab any supplies from the ship. Orion set yourself up either in a tree or atop the ship and be lookout."

The gang knew their roles and went about executing them. Jim and his small team headed in the direction of the enormous pillars of smoke. Where Jim and the detail had crashed was on the top of a great mountainside; this meant the three would have a fairly easy downhill march. The trio made their way down the hillside along a trail. It wound around the slope. The smoke from the downed freighter came from the bottom of a deep valley surrounded by hills forming a bowl shape.

As Jim brushed the various foliage he couldn't help notice that the color of the leaves, grass, vines, even the bark on the trees changed every so often. Even the texture; at one point a leaf brushed his arm and he could have sworn it felt like a concrete block. He double checked and the leaf felt like plastic. Jim was an experienced warrior, not a survivalist or botanist, he wondered to himself as he trekked the foreign planet if this jungle was playing tricks with his mind. Would he go mad? Just then Kira spoke up; he knew he hadn't lot it yet.

"So Jim what kind of things do you like?" she inquired, hoping to break the silence that bored her to tears.

"I dunno… stuff." he replied inattentively. He hoped she'd catch the hint and shut up.

"Okay, like, what kind of stuff?" she further inquired. "_I like you in black_."

Jim blinked hard, strobing the sweat from his eyes, "I can't think of anything right now Kira, just focus on the task for now."

"Hey kid," Lumpy jumped in, "I know you don't want us here, but you can show a little bit of respect and patience towards your teammates. We didn't choose you to be the team leader, but now we're stuck with you and you don't see us crying 'bout it." Lumpy said with the upmost seriousness.

Jim stopped and turned to face the old man, "Look I could give two craps about _who_ you are or why you're here. You may be the nicest grandpa on Earth, that doesn't mean you're trained for a mission like this. Am I bitter that my own company has taken my team from me, put me with a new bunch, on a strange planet, to co-lead? Yes, I'm human. I'm allowed to bitch." Jim said.

"Bring up the alien template." ordered an elderly man. A young group typed away, and soon a folder on their screen popped up labeled "_Aliens_". "Let's see…" the man said stroking his silver beard. "Hmm, we'll see how this three fair against a group of Locusuars." A picture of a humanoid bug popped up on screen. This exoskeleton creature with its strong, thick hind legs stood about eight feet tall. It had long arms that could almost touch the ground while standing straight and had razor sharp quills protruding from the forearm. Long spike-like scales rand down its back, and its head looked like that of an alligator and bee. "Give them rifles, Ajax in fact." The programmer's typed furiously and soon the alien was holding an electric blue rifle. "Send them." ordered the mysterious man.

Jim snorted angrily. Deep down he wished he could reach out and grab hold of what he said and pull it back. Honestly he had no beef with this group. He was more pissed at Flare for treating him this way, especially after blowing smoke up his ass, telling him he's a great worker and such. Jim opened his mouth to apologize when he heard a cracking sound from the distant trees. His mouth closed and his head craned. He caught glimpse of something green standing behind a tree, attempting to conceal itself. He continued his gaze so to not give away his awareness of its presents. But as he craned his head, more beings popped into view. His head stopped at Lumpy, "Yes?" the old man asked, the sound of displeasure in his voice.

_We're being watched_, Jim mouthed silently.

"What?" said Lumpy, now confused.

Jim tried to signal with his eyes; motioning to the old man to look to his right. _Aliens_… he mouthed.

Jim guessed Lumpy had caught on by the man's sudden tension. Lumpy's eye patch was not covering a gaping, gnarled hole in his head, but a robotic eye that sat in the socket and was capable of night vision, thermal vision, and x-ray vision. He had spotted a creature behind Jim, hiding behind the vegetation. Only one other person hadn't realized what was going on.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked. "You guys look like _Lumpy_ statues." Kira laughed, "Get it, I used Lumpy's name to…" her giggling died down.

Jim casually waved her over. She scooted over and leaned in, "Don't be alarmed, just play it cool. We're being watched." he whispered into her ear. And then Kira too saw a green figure half concealed behind the trunk of a fallen tree. Jim saw her reach for her gun, "Don't panic…" he began. But it was too late; Kira had already brought her SMG up. Before Jim could finish his sentence he felt a hard _thump _right between his shoulder blades sending him staggering forward and shattering a small space in his shields. Bullets zipped through the jungle; _pit, pit, pat, zing_, they sang as they peppered the trees and rocks. Lumpy, quicker than lightning, whipped his revolver, Lead HolePuncher out of its holster and sent large shotgun slugs back down range. His first shot missed by a hare and hit a tree. The trunk exploded into thousands of splinters and the tree fell. His next shot hit the creature in the hip and removed its leg.

Jim ducked and pulled out his Fox Cutter and put a tight trio in the skull of one alien ahead of him. He scooted down the road a few yards where he found a gully; its pit was deep enough to provide cover. "Lumpy, Kira, this way!" he shouted. The others glanced back briefly then fired a few more suppressive shots. Jim holstered his pistol and reached for his Flare dr4g0nFly 99p assault rifle, and laid down heavy suppressive fire. This weapon was Jim's own custom design, and sported a digidisk reader.

Digidisk's, were fairly new. These small red CD's were used as ammo and only worked with weapons that had the special drives. One would simply insert the disk into the slot, the disk would be read and the ammo would upload. Upon firing the weapon, the disk would construct a digital bullet in the gun's chamber. Jim's gun also had a fire rate of 14.5, so in a matter of seconds he was able to cut through most of the enemies and jungle in the area to provide superior support.

Numerous trees tumbled to the ground in the wake of Jim's fire; he had essentially created a small clearing. The other two sprinted back to Jim and slipped down into the gully. A small red light blinked, indicated all the data rounds were spent, and Jim ejected the disk where it disintegrated in the air.

"Are you two alright?" Jim asked.

"We're good, but what the hell are those things?" inquired Lumpy.

"I have no clue, never seen them before." Jim replied. "They must be natives of the planet." Jim climbed up the trenches' slope and peeked his head over the berm; nothing was there but a few trees tumbling to the floor. "It looks clear…" he whispered.

Suddenly Jim's head snapped back and his shields shattered as he fell back and landed hard on the dirt. "Whoa buddy, are you okay?" Lumpy asked, lifting Jim to his feet.

The man looked dazed, "They're still out there." Jim mumbled. Once he regained his senses, Jim knew they had to get away and make it to the downed ship. He handed the other two a pair of jet-black goggles, "Put these on." he ordered.

Lumpy handed them back and pointed at his eye patch, "You're one lucky SOB," the old man laughed.

"Why's that?" asked Jim, putting away the goggles.

"Because you still have your head son."

Kira and Jim pulled the goggles over their eyes while Lumpy closed his good eye. Jim popped the top to an Atlas Blinding Eclipser and tossed it into the air. Suddenly a few aliens showed up at the gulley's edge, but were halted as Jim's flash-bang grenade went off. A large eclipse hung in the air just above everyone's head; the white outer ring was so blinding that it seared permanent rings into the Locusuars' vision. The eclipse lasted a long thirty seconds, giving the trio plenty of time to make their escape.

Downhill the three sprinted; left then right, as they zigzagged through the trench until it opened and dumped them onto the side of the hill. The downed freighter was close by, as evident by the smell of burning matter and gasses. Moments later the trees opened to reveal the wreckage of the ship. Hot waves brushed their faces prompting them to turn away.

"Wow that's hot." Kira exclaimed. "How do we know it won't blow?" she inquired.

"We have to take that chance, besides the medical bay on ships like these are usually built opposite the end of the engine room and the fuel tanks." Jim replied.

The ship was propped up on a hilltop and lay angled across the planets floor. Various items still fell from the openings. A few people crawled out of tangled openings or broken windows; only to die upon a long drop to the ground. Kira ran over to the bodies and knelt beside them for only a moment. "What are you doing?" Jim inquired, "We don't have time for that."

"I'm harvesting their souls." Kira replied, "_I will grow stronger than you puny mortal off the souls you fail to harvest_." The girl quickly rejoined the other two as they made their way around burning piles of rubble and to the ships main body.

"Look, there's a ramp up to the ship." Jim pointed out. A long piece of metal sheeting from the ship's outer hull created a walkway from the ground to an opening in the ship. The party climbed up the metal piece and into a narrow room. Pipes covered the walls, dripping with a cold green liquid. Red lights were flashing wildly indicating the obvious; something catastrophic happened. Jim and the others turned sideways and squeezed passed some broken walls and pipes and into a more spacious section.

"This must be the mess hall." Lumpy said; looking around he was right. Jim saw plenty of food capsules scattered across the deck. Bodies hung from rafters above, lay in pieces on the floor, and splattered against walls. Ever other minute a random moan would barely linger in the air. Heavy steam from shattered pipes made the room hot, moist, and hard to see very far. This also caused food capsules to randomly explode into various types of food.

"Help me." came a voice from under a table.

Kira and Lumpy looked in the person's direction, "We can't, we need to get the supplies and get back." Jim ordered.

Kira's eyes widened, "_So many souls_!" she whispered in delight. "Uh, you guys go on ahead, I'll stay around here… Rear watch." she said.

Jim shook his head in disbelief, "Fine whatever. We'll be back as soon as we get the stuff." he said. And then he and Lumpy vanished into the humid fog.

Kira turned back to the man under the table, "It's like Christmas came early, like a fat kid in a candy shop… like… like…"

Meanwhile Jim and Lumpy climbed through various passages and rooms; most of which had been completely turned upside-down and tossed about. No longer were rooms a simple square or oval, but now walls molded into different forms, fires blocked certain areas creating walls in themselves. For Jim, passing bodies in direct sight was easy enough, they were all dead. He had a mission to accomplish; which was keeping a lone scientist from joining these poor saps.

But for Lumpy, he could see through the walls into rooms where people; women, children, had survived the crash miraculously. Most all of these people were trapped, and their rooms were becoming ovens heated by the fires, or they were suffocating in the fire extinguishing gasses. "I'm sorry Jimbo, but I gotta stop and help these people. Go on ahead, I'll meet you back with Kira." Lumpy said.

"Are you kidding me?" Jim complained. The old man shook his head, "Alright, I'll see you both back at the entrance." Jim griped. The Flare mercenary trudged on ahead, alone, and frustrated. His team, his _real_ team would have never abandoned him, or the mission. Further into the ship Jim became forced to take a single hallway that ended with an open pocket and a door. And then a holograph of a woman appeared in front of him. She was tilted as the pod she came from on the floor was pushed sideways.

"Warning, warning, lethal cargo being held in the cargo bay has been release. You are not permitted passed this point due to the danger level." the holograph said.

"Where is the medical bay located?" Jim inquired.

"The medical center is located one floor above the current, and two sections aft." the woman answered.

"Are there any other routes leading to the center?" asked Jim.

"Calculating… Calculating… Sorry, structural damage to the ship is preventing access from this location to the medical center. You may precede six rooms back, and then take the elevator to the floor above. The only other way is through the cargo section." the woman replied. "Warning, warning, lethal cargo being held in the cargo bay has been release. You are not permitted passed this point due to the danger level." the holograph repeated.

Jim rolled his eyes and reached for his revolver. He muscled open the cargo bay door and entered a dark room. Fire and few warning lights weakly illuminated the gigantic, pitch-black room. Large crates and cages lay toppled across the bay's floor. Jim climbed through the room carefully. He had to avoid falling as well as being burned. "They must have been transporting dangerous creatures in here." he said to himself

As he jumped from the top of a cage to a grated walkway, Jim heard a strange hissing sound. He paused a moment, and listened carefully. The hissing died down, but he knew this was no natural sound. From the shadows the hissing grew louder. And suddenly, out of the corner of Jim's eye, was movement. Jim sprinted along the catwalk and had managed to evade the jaws of a hungry Super Badass Phantom Shark. The massive body appeared out of thin air and hovered above the walkway. It paddled through the air, gliding at great speed after Jim.

Just behind the man, the alien chomped down on the catwalk viciously rocking the floor. Jim may have evaded being eaten, but now, as he tumbled over the edge, he had to hang on or be tossed into a ring of fire on the oil soaked floor below. The shark moved in on Jim, but the man was already on the counter. Jim raised his Fox Cutter and squeezed the trigger. The sound of his leather revolver cracked like canon fire in the expansive space. Shot after shot; Jim's large 45 caliber rounds tore through the alien's body. The monster turned invisible, but at this point it didn't matter, blood was spewing out of the large bullet holes giving away the creature's position.

Jim was about to finish the Phantom Shark off when something bit his hand holding onto the railing. Jim flinched; the pain was excruciating and burned fiercely. He looked up and saw Razorback Arachnids crawling along the metal piping towards his hand. One of which was already there as apparent by the bite. Jim took aim at the large spider and fired. Blue goo sprayed his face, but this didn't faze the man; he knew the Shark was drawing near. He took aim again at the Phantom Shark and fired the kill shot directly into its single eye. The beast let out a gurgle before falling to the fiery pit below. Jim didn't have time to relax, the venom from the spider worked fast as his hand had become numb. Jim fell but hastily caught himself with his other hand. Unfortunately in doing so, he dropped his gun over the side of the catwalk in the process. But fortunately, he was able to catch the gun between his feet.

Jim used his now numb arm to pin between two posts along the rail to help pull himself up. Once on deck Jim picked up his gun and sighed in relief, not to have lost his favorite pistol. And then, before his eyes, a Razorback leaped onto his leg and sank its fangs into his flesh. "Aaarh!" he shouted. Jim pistol whipped the spider over the edge of the walk. _Well this sucks_, he thought to himself as his leg began to lose feeling. Jim limped as fast he could to the end of the walkway. He was closing on the rear door; and the Arachnids were closing on him. He felt one jump on his shoulder and he swiped it away. Jim dove through the doorway and before the Arachnids could follow him in, Jim slammed the doors closed and shot the control panel.

The Flare operative sat back against the wall in exhaustion. He would have to remove the venom from his body quickly before it reached his brain, or he'd go brain-dead. He pulled out his knife and cut a deep wound into his armpit; where the numbing had reached. He did the same high up on his thigh. Blood oozed out of his gashes, and then a clear and black curdled goop trickled out. Jim began to feel faint. His vision shifted to double and his hearing became tunneled. He lost track of time, and wondered how long he had been bleeding for. He examined his wounds and saw his blood was clean again.

He fumbled with his knife as his flipped in upside down. On the bottom of the handle was a small red lens, which Jim pressed to his open cut. He squeezed the handle prompting the lens to heat rapidly. To Jim's relief, smoke sizzled into the air and the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils. He had been successful in cauterizing his own wounds. He would live another day, though now weakened. He would need to find a Med Station and get some health vials soon if he wanted to have any chance of surviving the rest of the cargo deck, much less complete his mission. Jim relaxed and closed his eyes; he only needed a moment more rest.


End file.
